The present invention relates to computing devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to retrieving content for use by a computing device.
There are currently many ways to select multiple items that are contained in large data stores that cannot all be brought down to the client at once. An example is gmail's implementation in its web-based email client. In this instance, the main interface is simply a grid with checkboxes next to each item. Each checkbox must be clicked to be selected then the next page button must be pressed to make a call to the server to get the next pages worth of data. Once you navigate to the next page there is no visual representation of what has been selected on previous pages. Gmail is operated in this manner because of the potential for a large amount of data to have to be accessed each time a user wants to view information.
Timing out of the web service call timing out is a problem with big data. A web service call that requires the return of all data or the searching of all data on the server may result in the request timing out without returning all of the data requested. The web service, in this example, cannot physically handle the amount of data to display to the end user.
Therefore, there exists a need for an improved method and system for allowing user to access specific items from a large data source that is stored in the cloud. This and other needs are addressed by one or more aspects of the present invention.